


Embers For Kindling

by ToraRyusei



Series: Water [3]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 21:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15827049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToraRyusei/pseuds/ToraRyusei





	Embers For Kindling

Kindling that billowed smoke up into the starry night. Flames illuminated the trees surrounding this clearing so far up the mountains. If you climbed up one of their branches, you could see the town below, the fluorescent lights a beauteous sign of progress and innovation, a time where things were just starting to pick back up for this island nation.

Here was a boy of white hair and sharp dark eyebrows. He had just reached twelve, yet the deep pitch black eyes he carried were those of a man. He stared at the flame quietly, as the woman in front of him controlled the kindling flame with an iron rod.

His grandmother, Anri. The former head of the Migakaze clan. Her prime had been quite some time ago, but she was still far spryer than any human her age. She had suffered many hardships in her life, the death of her husband, the death of her son and daughter-in-law, and now she alone was there to take care of the young Osamu. The boy had barely known his parents before they died, but it was still enough to affect him in ways he was still too young to fully grasp.

 

His grandmother felt pity for the boy. Still a lifetime ahead of him, and yet already so much sorrow in his life. She couldn’t coddle him, however. To begin with, she wasn’t the type. Secondly, it was now his duty to carry on the legacy of the Migakaze. To shield him from that duty would only make things more difficult for him, it was a destiny he could not escape no matter how hard he tried. She knew that well.

“We’ll begin at sunrise. Be ready.” She said. No more was needed to communicate with the boy. Thus began his training.

 

Silence dominated his world, as Osamu was never one to speak more than necessary. Even before his parent’s death, he had been that way, though their passing had made him all more succinct in his way of speaking. Those days training in the mountains he had needed no more the most basic instructions from his grandmother, who sparred with him and guided him throughout a rigorous training regimen which no ordinary human could ever hope to withstand. It was to awaken the potential that all Migakaze carried and to boost him beyond even those limits.

“The Tiger clan has always known suffering. We were blessed with these bodies that can go farther than any human, therefore we must use this gift to the fullest.” Osamu understood that, and he carried on silently with his training. He was independent, figuring out things that had yet to be taught to him, a prodigy of a warrior.

It was this strength that carried him through adolescence. Though many mistook him for a cold and callous man, the power and reach of his “aura”, his lifeforce manifest, could touch the auras of other people. He could feel their pain with each blow he landed, and how they reached death with every wound inflicted. A warrior cursed with empathy for his opponents, Man and beast inhabiting the same body, and to balance both aspects of their self was the challenge every head of the Migakaze faced, for they alone were made to experience combat. They were the ones tasked with protecting humanity, and with defeating their rival clan, the Ryuzaki.

Osamu grew, and with an odd magnetism began to attract others to him. Lovers who would become wives, touched by his strength that he channeled so carefully as to be mindful of every living thing. Partners from all walks of life, who he could raise children with and further expand the Migakaze lineage. However, things were not so easy.

Death and life, even as he became father to many children, he would lose his loved ones along the way. The pain he felt was buried deep inside, never allowing it to show, and he silently carried on with his duties, until the day came when he would take the future heir of the Tiger clan up into those familiar mountains to train, just like his grandmother had done with him.

He spent much time away from his children, an absent father with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Though that wouldn’t be an excuse for his son. Takii would always resent his father, his quiet demeanor, his seeming abandonment of his family. It was part of what defined the boy, his striving to become better than his father, to become a better parent, a better heir. How he wished he could reach his son, tell him how not once he had forgotten his children, that he had never stopped fighting for their sake. It would not be enough. But perhaps someday his son might see, understand the hardships his father went through. When that day comes, he could only hope to be there with him. 


End file.
